Improvement in tents



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PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE O. TOWNSEND, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

vIMPROVEM ENT |N TENTS. l

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. 34,603, dated March 4, 1862.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE O. ToWNsEND, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Tent, designed more especially for army use 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this speciication, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section of my invention, taken in the line o@ so, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a plan or top view of the same partly bisected; Fig. 3, a detached section of one of the ventilators.

. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The obj ect of this invention is to facilitate the raising and lowering of the tent, as well as to afford a ready means for regulating the tension of the canvas and thereby compensate for the damp and dry state of the atmosphere and admit of the canvas being kept properly strained or rstretched at all times, avoiding the loosening and sagging ot the same in dry weather, and also avoiding the undue tension occasioned by the absorption of moisture in wet weather, which in tents of ordinary construction is frequently so great as to either rupture the canvas or draw the tent-pins out of the earth.

The invention also has for its object a superior Inode of ventilation, as hereinafter fully shown and described, whereby the ventilators may be adj usted entirely within the tent and by a very simple means.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invent-ion, I will proceed to describe it.

. A represents the canvas of the tent, which may be so cut and constructed as to be of conical form when elevated or adjusted for use, as shown in Fig. 1.

B represents the center pole of the tent, which may be of wood and of any suitable height corresponding to the size of the tent. The pole B has a metallic screw C tted on it at a suitable distance above its lower end, and on the pole B there is placed a metallic frame D, which is formed of two rings a a., connected by rods b b, as shown clearlyr in Fig. 1.

On the pole B there is placed a ring or band E, which has two lugs or ears h projecting from it. F is a lever which is iitted between the lugs or ears b b', and secured therein byA a fulcrum-pin c. The lever F has a horizontal pin d, attached to its lower end byapivot e. This pin d passes through the ring orband E, and a spring f, which is attached to the upper end of the lever and bears against a pin g on the ring or band E, has a tendency to keep the upper part of the lever F forced outward and the inner end of the pin d projecting within the ring or band E and into the thread of the screw C.

In the upper end of the canvas A there is fitted a ring h, through which the upper part of the pole B passes. The lower part of the canvas A has pins il attached to it by cords j. Y The tent is erected as follows: The pins are driven into the earth and the upper end of the pole B inserted in the ring h at the upper end of the canvas A, the lower end of the pole B being driven into the earth. The ring or band E is then raised on the pole B untilit reaches the screw C, and the inner end of the pin d catches therein. The ring or band E is then turned and the frame D is elevated and the canvas A thereby stretched, the top of frame D bearing against the bottom of the ring h. In consequence of the pin d tting into the thread of the screw C the ring or band E operates as a nut. In order to lower the tent, the upper end of lever F is pressed inward and the pin d thereby drawn out from the screw C, so that the ring or band E may slip down over the screw and thereby avoid the delay and trouble of screwing down the ring or band on the screw. By this arrangement it will be seen that the tent may be very readily erected and kept properly strained.

'When the atmosphere is dry and the canvas tightly stretched, it may be prevented from tearing by overstretching due to a sudden change to wet weather by turning down the ring or band E, and as the canvas loosens by a change of weather from wet to dry it may be tightened or stretched by a few upward turns of the ring or band C.

The tent is provided with ventilators constructed as follows: Openings le are made in the canvas at suitable points-say rather above its center-and these openings are covered by flaps Z, which are of canvas and secured at their-upper ends to the canvas of the tent j ust above the openings k, as shown at m. The sides of the flaps l are itted within pockets n n, which are secured to the canvas A at each side of the openings lo, and the lower end of each flap has a toggle o fitted in it, (see Fig. 3,) said toggles being placed in hems at the bottoms of the flaps. To the toggle of each iiap Zthere are secured4 two cords p q, one cord p being attached to the center or joint of the toggle and passing through the canvas A and the other cord q also passing through the canvas and having its ends attached to the ends of the toggle, as shown clearly in Fig. 3. By this arrangement of the cords 19 q and toggles it will be seen that the flaps Z may be opened and closedthat is to say, be bowed out at ing the cord p, the operator being within the tent. The plan is a simpleone, involving no additional expense and enabling the temperature of a tent to be graduated as desired without the occupants exposing themselves to the weather to adjust the coverings of the openings.

I do not claim, broadly and separately, an

extension tent-pole-that is to say, one that is the pole and the ring or band E and pin d or their equivalents, as set forth.

2. The combination of the toggles o and attached cords p q with the flaps l, in the manner herein shown and described.

GEORGE O. TOWN SEND.

lVtnesses:

THOMAS H. W. PRICE, MUNROE STEVENS. 

